Elon Musk plans to put humans on Mars in 6 years – This is how he will do it

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has outlined a six year plan to see the first manned missions touch down on Mars.

Forming part of his keynote speech at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Musk noted that there are “two fundamental paths” facing humanity today.

“One is that we stay on Earth forever and then there will be an inevitable extinction event,” he said.

“The alternative is to become a spacefaring civilization, and a multi-planetary species.”

How will he get us there?

“In order to achieve this goal, Musk outlined a multi-stage launch and transport system, including a reusable booster – like the Falcon 9, which SpaceX has already successfully tested – only much larger,” reports The Guardian.

The booster and the “interplanetary module” on top of it would be nearly as long as two Boeing 747 aircraft. It could initially carry up to 100 passengers, he said.

“Once people are on Mars, Musk said they’ll be able to grow crops in contained buildings with compressed atmosphere.

They’ll also have the resources they need to make more rocket fuel — allowing them to send spaceships back to Earth.”

“What I really want to try to achieve here is to make Mars seem possible – like it’s something we can achieve in our lifetimes,” Musk told the audience.

Check out SpaceX’s proposed Interplanetary Transport System below: